Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks is confident players will step up in the absence of Captain Rory Sloane for the remainder of the season.
On Wednesday, the Crows confirmed Adelaide’s senior leadership group would share match day captaincy duties while Sloane recovered from season-ending knee surgery.
Nicks conceded Sloane’s on-field presence would be missed, but believed sharing the role between the leadership group of Brodie Smith, Tom Doedee, Ben Keays and Reilly O’Brien was the right decision.
“Our Captain is still our Captain, Sloaney will still be our Captain,” Nicks said.
“What we will now need is others to step up and I guess fill that void that we’ve got with him missing.
“It will now be to his deputies in a way and there’s four other guys there that are all outstanding leaders in their own right.
“They’ll work through the rest of the year and make sure we have that leadership on field that we need to get across the line and win games.
“Everyone will need to step up from this point.”
Nicks also expected other more experienced players to help the leadership group guide the young side.
“It’s (about) being influential in key moments, it’s leading that young group that we have, making sure our players feel confident about what they’re doing, driving structure and game plan - it’s everything,” Nicks said.
“It hasn’t all been on Sloaney’s shoulders to this point.”
Adelaide is coming off a 19-point win over Richmond and will take on the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat this Saturday.
Nicks said his side respected the Bulldogs and they would be tough to beat.
“When you play in Ballarat you play against a very good side in the Bulldogs,” Nicks said.
“They’ve been that now for a number of years, when they’re on, they’re a very hard team to play against.
“That’s the challenge for us this weekend - it doesn’t matter where it is - it could be at Marvel or the MCG, it’s still going to be a challenge but we are going to accept that challenge and we’re looking forward to it.
“We go down there with some confidence ourselves around the footy we are playing off the back of a good win against a very good side.”
Adelaide plays the Western Bulldogs at Mars Stadium, Ballarat, on Saturday, with the first bounce at 1.15pm (ACST).
